Having to Always Be On Guard

If there’s one area of my life that’s totally different, here in Brazil, from how it was in the U.S., it’s the area of “having to always be on guard”... on guard against insects, that is. It’s like as soon as I let my guard down, bam! There’s something that crawls on me, bites me, dive bombs me, hisses at me, etc... because when you least expect it, that’s when they get you. Here, let me give you an example:

Sunday, before service, I was all alone up at the pavilion setting-up the sound system (Thank You Tony and Jackie Doyley at Pro Music Outlet in Atlanta for donating our sound system to us!!) I was just minding my own business, praying and worshipping God a little by myself before anyone arrived. I had just hooked the speakers up and walked over to the soundboard to sit down. Then, right before sitting down, I looked at the base of the bench that I was about to sit down at, and there it was... one of the angriest looking spiders I’ve ever seen. It was orange and brown, it had huge teeth (yes, teeth!) and it was pretty big too. And it was just waiting for me to come sit down so that it could attack me (I’m just sure of it!). I mean, why was it even there? And of all the places for it to be, why was it sitting at the foot of where I was about to sit down. It could’ve been anywhere in the pavilion but where was it? That’s right, right where the only human (me) was in the whole place. Coincidence? No way! I believe it was on a carefully planned covert mission to attack me. And nobody can convince me otherwise. So, I grabbed my camera, took it’s picture then I killed it with a broom (like any manly-man would do, lol!). End of story.

But, when you think about it, that’s kind of like the devil too. In I Peter 5:8 it says, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” He’s just waiting for us to put our guard down in different areas of our lives so that he can capitalize on our lack of “watchfulness.” Here, let me be more specific... if there’s an area of your life where you’ve won a battle or overcome some kind of sin, you still need to be watchful and on guard in that area because as soon as you think you’re safe... bam! You fall right back into that thing again. I Corinthians 10:12 says, “let anyone who stands take heed lest he falls.” It’s great that you’ve won the battle but you still need to stand guard over that area of your life so that the enemy doesn’t catch you sleeping, pounce on you and the next thing you know you’ve fallen prey to him. So keep your eyes open, stay alert and “Always Be On Guard.”

We’re getting ready for a camp this weekend. It’s a youth group from Curitiba and they’ll be staying with us over the weekend. Please pray, that in addition to having a great time, they’ll all experience Jesus. That’s really our main goal for being here in Brazil... that people will know Jesus.

Standing Guard,

JIm